WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. antitrust regulators will be
able to sue OPEC for fixing prices and setting production levels
of crude oil, under legislation approved by a U.S. Senate
subcommittee on Thursday.

Under pressure from their constituents about this summer's
high gasoline prices, U.S. lawmakers have blamed the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC) collusive
practices for the soaring fuel costs.

``Indisputably, the biggest contributor to high gas and fuel
prices is the unacceptably high price of imported crude oil -- a
price set by anti-competitive agreements among the OPEC
nations,'' said Ohio Republican Senator Mike DeWine, who chairs
the Senate Antitrust subcommittee and co-sponsored the
legislation.

Similar to legislation also pending in the House of
Representatives, the bill faces an uphill battle to make it
through Congress, as lawmakers are off in August, and then
return for four weeks of work before they adjourn in early
October.

The legislation cleared by the subcommittee would put
pressure on OPEC not to restrict oil supplies by giving the U.S.
government the legal authority to bring an antitrust enforcement
action against foreign states engaging in anti-competitive
conduct with regard to oil and other petroleum products.

Normally, the Federal Sovereign Immunities Act allows
prosecution of foreign governments when they are engaged in
''commercial activity,'' but prohibits prosecution of those
states that are engaged in ``governmental activity.''

A federal district court has previously ruled that OPEC's
actions to control oil supplies is ``governmental activity''
protected from prosecution under U.S. law.

``OPEC members have used the shield of 'sovereign immunity''
to escape accountability for their price-fixing, said Wisconsin
Democratic Senator Herb Kohl, the other co-sponsor of the bill.

And just how could the U.S. government effectively sue
foreign nations engaging in an oil cartel?

``If the OPEC nations have assets in the United States, they
can be seized,'' Kohl said.

The bill will also give federal district courts the
jurisdiction and authority to consider such cases brought by the
Justice Department or the Federal Trade Commission.